I have to wonder what's the deal with the growth in console sales (in comparison to the previous gen's) when there are barely any high profile exclusives out. Is it the longer gap between generations that's doing it?

It's not like these consoles do anything super exciting or trendy like the Wii did.

Well when in your marketing you insult gamers with a 'multimedia' console, it comes back to bite you in the ass. Seriously, they really sucked at talking what the console is about. And made it more expensive while less powerful. Big no no.

I have to wonder what's the deal with the growth in console sales (in comparison to the previous gen's) when there are barely any high profile exclusives out. Is it the longer gap between generations that's doing it?

It's not like these consoles do anything super exciting or trendy like the Wii did.

the people that grew up begging their parents to buy them the older consoles can now buy their own.Now you've got the people that grew up exposed to it able to get more, at their own choosing.

If I'm Microsoft I'm not that worried yet since the Xbox One is being only sold in 13 countries compared with 48 countries for the PS4. What really surprises me is that Xbox One is still selling as well as it is considering how much more expensive it is.

Interesting... I've been able to find PS4 everywhere I shop now... My local WalMart, Best Buy and Gamestops all had plenty in stock. My local Best Buy actually had more PS4s in stock the last two weeks compared with X1s... I wonder if PS4 manufacturing has caught up to demand in the US?

Sounds to me that PS4 and XB1 are selling pretty similarly in markets where both are sold, just that the PS4 is available in more markets globally.

PS4 launched in more countries the Xbox is actually the one that's available in more countries.

Ah I was under the impression that PS4 was still available in more countries.

You heard wrong... those countries got a limited supply at launch. That's it. Outside the US and Japan they are next to impossible to find, and aren't even advertised any longer. Though you can find a few games in the launch countries and access PSN. The PS4 is made in batches of a million, you can't ship stock made for the US to any other country but Canada.

I don't really want to dive into Fanboy Land, but as a long-time gamer, I find the latest console cycle incredibly fascinating. It really is like Sony and Microsoft switches sides this generation, with Sony saying all the right things and having the reasonably priced, gamer-friendly console with the best version of multi-platform games, while Microsoft has the higher-priced, do-all machine that runs multi-platform games worse. Microsoft was even imitating Sony's arrogance at the beginning, with ridiculous quotes akin to Sony's famous "you'll get a second job to get a PS3" quote.

Of course, that said, if we follow history, the XB1 will eventually catch-up to the PS4 and we'll have more-or-less sales parity between the two platforms. The only major difference so far is that Sony is winning in North America - typically Microsoft Land. Previously, Sony made up much of the NA sales difference through their sales in other regions, but this generation, they haven't had to do that thus far.

The company went back on that plan yesterday, though, announcing via press release that it has shipped 5 million units of the Xbox One to retailers worldwide.

and

Quote:

The new number represents the opening of a decent-sized gap behind the PlayStation 4, which Sony announced had reached 7 million units sold to customers as of April 4

That really isn't good news.

I agree (as another poster mentioned above as well), shipped and sold numbers have a bit different context. If your product is sitting on shelves it ain't making you any money. Not that it won't be sold eventually, but I think the comparison between the two is skewed.

I think I might just buy the PS4 when my tax check gets in. Seems to be a stable enough product now that there shouldn't be any major problems. Besides there's a couple of games I'm interested in on the PS4 and I'd like to check them out finally.

It already has with Activision cancelling Amazing Spiderman 2 on the Xbone while still releasing it on PS4, PS3, PC and 360.

Also the PS4 is still supply constrained in the USA according to NPD.

There does appear to be an official statement that does confirm the delay in the release. Even if it is canceled it wasn't because of how many Xbox Ones vs Playstation 4s were sold. I suspect the reason it was delayed/canceled wasn't shared so lets not speculate on that.

We are working with Microsoft in an effort to release The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game on Xbox One. Currently, the game will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and the PC on April 29, 2014 as previously announced," an Activision representative stated.

The company went back on that plan yesterday, though, announcing via press release that it has shipped 5 million units of the Xbox One to retailers worldwide.

and

Quote:

The new number represents the opening of a decent-sized gap behind the PlayStation 4, which Sony announced had reached 7 million units sold to customers as of April 4

That really isn't good news.

That's really striking coming right after the courtroom discovery that Samsung (almost completely fabricated) overreported the initial galaxy tab sales. The difference in the numbers was millions, based on 'shipped', as well, making it actually sell worse than the nook rather than better. That's a startling discrepancy when thousands of devs and millions of dollars are at stake.

I think Microsoft is certainly more credible than Samsung, given their histories, but they should tread carefully, investors are more active in the US and their investors haven't been especially complacent recently (though I think the Nadella choice and Nadella has been fantastic and most would agree).

I have to wonder what's the deal with the growth in console sales (in comparison to the previous gen's) when there are barely any high profile exclusives out. Is it the longer gap between generations that's doing it?

It's not like these consoles do anything super exciting or trendy like the Wii did.

The answer to the huge sales of new consoles is in the wait. The Xbox 360 was released in 2005 and the PS4 was released in 2006. The last generation was long. Consequently, Xbox 360 and PS3 owners have been waiting years for a new console. All this pent up demand has led to record console sales. Nintendo was smart to take advantage of that demand early, but dumb to release a console with features, such as the second screen, that no one wants instead of features, such as bigger HD and better performance, that consumers do want.

The bigger question is why the supply constrained PS4 is selling so much better than the Xbox One. You can point to price, little interest in Kinect 2.0, littler interest in the TV stuff, better resolution and framerates, PS Plus being a better deal than Xbox Live, and better messaging about used games and privacy. The recent deals on the Xbox One (such as the Target deal where you could the Xbox One, Titanfall, and 1 year of Xbox Live for $450) will give us a good idea on whether the difference in sales numbers is primarily due to price.

I don't buy into the theory that the US is typically an MS market. MS does better in the US of course but frankly the US follows what the better value seems to be. The PS2 was a better value, the 360 was a better value, the PS4 is a better value. Being surprised the PS4 is outselling the Xbox is not understanding the history of the market. I have no doubt that the PS4 will end up winning the US market share number unless MS just does something drastic. As it stands MS should be proud that they are outpacing the 360 despite being more expensive and being such a lightening rod for controversy. This shows me we're in a growth market and hopefully both platforms can benefit from it. Heck MS got me to buy a One. Then again I bought a PS4 so I'm not really a good indicator of a typical consumer.

Sounds to me that PS4 and XB1 are selling pretty similarly in markets where both are sold, just that the PS4 is available in more markets globally.

PS4 launched in more countries the Xbox is actually the one that's available in more countries.

Ah I was under the impression that PS4 was still available in more countries.

You heard wrong... those countries got a limited supply at launch. That's it. Outside the US and Japan they are next to impossible to find, and aren't even advertised any longer. Though you can find a few games in the launch countries and access PSN. The PS4 is made in batches of a million, you can't ship stock made for the US to any other country but Canada.

It's also worth noting that this is "do or die" for Sony. The company as a whole, not just SCE, has had some pretty awful revenue figures the last few years. In my mind, they kind of *have* to go all-out just to survive in their current state.

Microsoft, on the other hand, can afford to be patient with their install base numbers.

I barely touch my PS4. It is just easier to enable my 360 or ONE via its gamepad than yank the DualShock 4 from its mini USB charging cable only to have to faff around reconnecting it when I'm finished. I'd like to plug my 360 into the HDMI IN of my ONE to save me from switching AV inputs on my TV, but whilst the lag isn't a problem in GTA V, it ruins Halo 3 multiplayer - shame, because a lower latency pass through would compensate for a lack of backwards compatibility.

It seems like a trivial reason to barely use it, but I imagine the same happens with the Wii U.

How irritating would it be if you discovered that your Sky+HD remote control batteries only lasted four hours.

I don't think we can really call the X-box One an "also ran" when the Wii U still exists. They don't really belong in the same category...

They can both be "also rans". With Titanfall not moving the XBone sales needle at all, it's relegated to a PS3-like situation in which it'll get a lot of 3rd party support by default but isn't price-competitive enough to become a sales leader.

The company went back on that plan yesterday, though, announcing via press release that it has shipped 5 million units of the Xbox One to retailers worldwide.

and

Quote:

The new number represents the opening of a decent-sized gap behind the PlayStation 4, which Sony announced had reached 7 million units sold to customers as of April 4

That really isn't good news.

I agree (as another poster mentioned above as well), shipped and sold numbers have a bit different context. If your product is sitting on shelves it ain't making you any money. Not that it won't be sold eventually, but I think the comparison between the two is skewed.

I think I might just buy the PS4 when my tax check gets in. Seems to be a stable enough product now that there shouldn't be any major problems. Besides there's a couple of games I'm interested in on the PS4 and I'd like to check them out finally.

I had one on day one. Seemed stable enough to me then. Only problem I had was a long wait for the day one update.

" if Sony continues to expand that relative sales gap, the Xbox One could start to be relegated to something of an also-ran status in the minds of both game makers and gamers."

That would be true if Microsoft wasn't working hard at unifying its platforms, and in a not to distant future game developers will be able to target Windows Phone, Windows and XB1 with the same code base, the potential market is going to be huge.

So much so that unless Microsoft makes lots of serious mistakes (and since it is Microsoft, it can very well happen), in the long run Sony may find itself in trouble.

Also, lest we forget, Microsoft can throw money at it until it works, Sony not so much.